Residue: Final Cut

Residue: Final Cut is a story-driven 2D platform adventure set at an abandoned excavation site in the remains of the Aral Sea in present-day Uzbekistan. You alternate between three characters with different abilities and ambitions, exploring an interconnected world and reaching places that others cannot. The Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth-largest lake, is now an arid wasteland after decades of Soviet cotton irrigation.

Story

In the late 1990s, a disgraced Russian oil tycoon discovers an underground secret that could help restore the Aral Sea. The sea itself will not change, but the team assembled to attempt this mission will be changed by it. Ten years later, the survivors’ paths begin to converge as something draws them back to the Aral Sea.

The story is fully voiced and non-violent, and explores the cost of trying to save worlds. There is no clear-cut protagonist: you see different sides of the story as control shifts among the three characters. They sometimes help one another and sometimes oppose one another. The main story takes about two to three hours, with hidden collectibles, secret content and clues to real-world events to find through further exploration.

Explore the site

The game’s HD art is based closely on photographs of the Aral Sea, and the world contains artifacts from its real history. You explore through varied activities, including climbing, diving and navigating pitch-black corridors. The characters’ distinct abilities open different routes and areas.

You remain in control throughout the adventure, whether exploring a ship graveyard, diving through underground tunnels, guiding old Jumagul through dark corridors with a flickering flashlight or climbing the side of a stranded drillship with Nikolai’s makeshift grappling hook. The soundtrack, composed and produced by Joel Bille, includes vocal tracks and has an ethnic vibe.